Football season ends and, right on cue, everyone suddenly remembers college basketball exists. The takes start flying. The outrage warms up. And somehow, within about five minutes, Alabama is already responsible for “ruining the sport.”
Classic.
Now it’s basketball season. Not the polite little overlap while football is still on. The real season. The one where people pretend they’ve always cared deeply about roster construction and eligibility rules they learned about yesterday.
And here we are again. Alabama does something unusual, something within the rules, something that might actually help them win, and suddenly the moral alarm bells go off. Outrage that we are used to hearing against us in football has now moved sports.
Charles Bediako is back after spending time in the NBA. That’s it. That’s the crime. That’s apparently the moment college basketball crossed the point of no return. Except… it didn’t.
Because this isn’t the first time this has happened. Not even close. Baylor did it first. No riots. No pearl-clutching. No “this is bad for the game” think pieces. It happened, people shrugged, and everyone moved on. But when it’s Alabama, the same move magically becomes an existential threat to college sports.
That’s the part that’s hard not to laugh at.
This isn’t Alabama exploiting some secret loophole. The rules didn’t change last week. Nobody rewrote the handbook overnight. It’s just Alabama benefiting from an uncommon situation, and apparently, that’s unacceptable now.
What makes it even funnier is how little of the outrage has anything to do with basketball.
Alabama has a rebounding problem. That’s been obvious. Watch the games. Too many defensive possessions don’t end. Too many second chances. Too many stretches where effort isn’t the issue, size and positioning are. That’s not a narrative. That’s just what’s been happening.
So Alabama adds a legitimate interior presence. Someone whose entire job is to rebound, protect the rim, and make sure possessions actually end. And instead of talking about that, we’re arguing about the “spirit of the game.”
Spirit of the game means absolutely nothing anymore. Across all college sports, the only thing that matters isusing whatever you can to win. Indiana just won a championship with a roster of 24-year-olds and people celebrated.
The truth is simple. When other programs do it, it’s innovative or smart roster management. When Alabama does it, it’s a problem. That’s not about fairness. That’s about the logo on the jersey. Football is over. Basketball is here. And with it comes the annual tradition of people being mad at Alabama for existing, competing, and occasionally doing something first, second, or just better. If people want to be outraged, that’s fine. Alabama will be busy trying to finish possessions. And judging by the reaction already, everyone will be watching anyway.